TEMPLE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES October 12, 2015 Minutes The Board of Trustees met in regular session on Monday, October 12, 2015 in the Joe Everton Conference Room of the TISD Central Administration Offices, 200 North 23rd Street, Temple, Texas in accordance with Chapter 551 of the Government Code. President Wright called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. and declared a quorum present. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mr. Wright. Members Present
Mr. Steve Wright, President; Mr. Dan Posey, Vice President; Mrs. Jennifer Davis, Secretary; Mr. Ronnie Gaines; Mrs. Shannon Gowan; and Ms. Virginia Suarez, Members.
Members Absent
Mrs. Linell Davis and Mr. Ronnie Gaines, Members.
Others Present
Dr. Robin Battershell, Superintendent; Mrs. Marilyn Krumnow, Secretary to the Superintendent; representative of the news media; and various staff members and citizens.
Public Forum
No one addressed the Board of Trustees during the Open Forum section of the meeting.
Board President’s
TASA/TASB Convention Update - The convention was held in Austin, Texas at the Austin Convention Center from October 2-4, 2015. Mrs. Jennifer Davis attended as Temple ISD's delegate for the Delegate Assembly. Mr. Dan Posey was the alternate. Mr Steve Wright, Board President, Mrs. Linell Davis, Mrs. Shannon Gowan, and Mr. Ronnie Gaines and Ms. Virginia Suarez also attended. Board Members provided an update of their attendance. There were not future items of discussion.
Superintendent’s Report
National Merit Scholarship Program Recognition – Dr. Battershell introduced Dr. Mayo, Principal from Temple High School. Dr. Mayo recognized four 2016 National Merit Semifinalists and Commended students. Parth Gupta has been named a National Merit Semifinalist and will go on through the process for selection for National Merit Scholars. Semifinalists are the highest scoring entrants from each 50 states and are from a pool of 1.5 million entrants taking the PSAT during their high school junior year. 16,000 students are selected as semifinalists and placed among the top one percent of the 1.5 million entrants. These students will continue to compete for Merit Scholarship Awards. The Semifinalists must complete other requirements to
continue the process toward recognition as a National Merit Scholar. The students will be notified of their Finalist status in mid-February and Scholar status in April 2016. Temple High School students recognized as 2016 National Merit Commended students are Nolan Fogleman, Kimani Johnson and Jonathan McCormack. National Merit Commended students are selected based on the highest of scores on the PSAT during their junior year. Semifinalist and National Merit Scholars are then selected from this commended group based on the highest scores. Commended students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2016 competition by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT). The Temple High School student recognized as a 2016 National Hispanic Recognition Scholar is Isabel Suarez-Cruz. The College Board recognizes students identified as outstanding Hispanic Recognized Scholars based on PSAT/NMSQT scores and grade point averages. Students’ names are sent to subscribing colleges and universities; these institutions actively recruit students and may offer financial support based on The College Board’s recognition. Dr. Robin Battershell presented the TISD 2015 Bond Presentation power point. Improve Attendance A shout out was given to Meridith-Dunbar. They have improved their attendance rate from last year by 7%! They have put in an incentive plan for students and for parents and it is working. We also thank our Head Start partners because they are definitely part of this equation. We still need to work on attendance at Wheatley and at Edwards (both below 90%). Edwards’s enrollment is at 90 students, this is about our cap. In the past we only served juniors and seniors, and we now take lower classmen who are behind in credits. This partially accounts for the attendance issues because they are not as motivated! The rest of the campuses are tracking well on attendance with all around or exceeding 95%. Improve Behavior The discipline committee reconvened this week. October 12, 2015 – 6:00 p.m. Board Minutes – Page 2
They will
present to the School Board in November. A lot has happened over the past year in this department. Last year I called every elementary campus and asked them for their top 1% behavior students. I recorded notes on each of these students and the discipline committee put into place several procedures and programs to better assist the campuses in working with these challenging students. Some of these interventions include the following: 1. Behavioral Intervention Plan Response to Intervention Model (similar to what we do on the academic side) 2. TRCG: intra-departmental staffing on students rising to a L3. (We still have some work to do on this committee. 3. Restorative Discipline: Actually, this has surprised me. It has made a huge difference. 4. Trust Based Intervention Training: Nancy Preston began this process this summer and went through a week of training last week. It was very intensive but she said the best training she has ever attended. I think this really has the potential to make a huge difference with our students. Last week, I followed up on these 1% kids and how they are doing this year. The vast majority is still enrolled and besides about seven of them, they have really shown improvement. This is a testament to the interventions above and moreover to those who use them! We wish Christian Hernandez, our Temple Daily Telegram reporter, well. He is leaving for another position. Communities in Schools (CIS) overall served 5,522 students last year with 84% improvement in attendance, 98% improvement in behavior, and 99% in academics. It is interesting that their goals are the same as TISD’s! They are also looking for shoes and gently worn coats. If you have any, please bring them to the central office, and we will get them to CIS. Elementary class enrollment is pretty balanced at this time with 34 additional classes at 23. We will do an additional waiver for these. Improve Academics The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is reinstituting the Student Success Initiative (SSI) standards for the 2015-2016 school year: This means that students who do not meet the State math standards will be required to attend a summer program in grades 5 & 8. Last year, due to the new math standards, this requirement October 12, 2015 – 6:00 p.m. Board Minutes – Page 3
was waived by the State and we only had a summer program for reading. TEA is also requiring calculators for several courses for this year including Gr. 8 math, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Biology. This is not new to us and is not a problem. The Individual Graduation Committees will continue for 20152016 and will more likely continue beyond that. TEA has also placed some time constraints on elementary testing. In other words they are shortening this test so that 85% of students can complete it in 2 hours. Yeah! Elementary Chromebook Roll Out will go through October 9. At that point, 3-5 graders will have 2:1 access to the computer. This is the last roll out from the 2013 TRE! Other Below is an update on what is going on with the bond preparation: Matthew LeBlanc, Director of Communications, posts each day a new update on the bond including pictures etc. via social media. Fine Arts had 10,000 hits!!!! Thornton Elementary had 4000. We are having re-tweets from former TISD students saying they wished they had had better facilities when they went to school here…pretty neat. 58 current THS students registered to vote; and they are tweeting! Most of the questions involve the Hardin Swim Center. They want to know what the new building would look like. Presentations continue in full force. Campus informational signs went up last week. Drive by and you will see these. REMINDERS Temple Education Foundation Joe Greene Distinguished Alumni Event: Meridith-Dunbar, 5:30 p.m., Monday, November 9. A Board Retreat is scheduled for Tuesday, October 27, 2015, 8:00a.m.–12:00p.m. @ Meridith-Dunbar ECA Auditorium/Stage. Board Campus Visit: Wednesday, October 28, 2015, 10:30 (Meet in the front office at Temple High School). We will be seeing technology applications! We will do our second round of visits in January, and we will go to our "other" campuses i.e. Dickson, Emerson, Bethune, etc. to evaluate future usage per the long range plan. We are open to ideas! Human Resource
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A motion was made by Mr. Posey and seconded by Mrs. Jennifer Davis to approve the recommended 2015-2016 Personnel. The
motion was approved by a 5-0 vote. Student Services
Dr. Lisa Diserens, Director of Accountability, Assessment and PEIMS, provided an update on the new attendance laws. Dr. Diserens stated there are three parts to attendance: #1 Official Attendance Accounting Time = funding/audits, #2 90% Compulsory Attendance, and #3 Truancy Court. Official attendance counting time each day is 10:17 a.m. Students are required to be in attendance for 90% of a class to receive credit. If they go beyond this, the Attendance Committee can assign methods to make up these hours to maintain credit. This has no impact on funding. The district can no longer file directly with the Justice of the Peace Court of Judge David Barfield. All referrals must be filed at the county level first. Accurate attendance counting is critical.
Curriculum and Instruction
The Temple High School Instructional Technology Specialists, Jessica Mays and Jacki Wright, shared stories of inspiration that stem from the 1:1 Chromebook implementation at THS. Mr. Richard Johnson, Network Technician, and Ajani Rogers, 11th grader at Temple High School shared their stories and reported they have the Tech Spot room to help students with questions, give advice, and make repairs with the computers. Ms. Catrina Lotspeich, Director of Fine Arts introduced the following teachers: Mrs. Julie Rex and Ms. Jordonn Smith. These two Elementary Music Teachers demonstrated the newly adopted “textbook” for K-5 music – Quaver. This textbook is an online digital resource with curriculum maps, cross-curricular links, lesson plans, individual and group assessments, and is completely customizable. It allows teachers to customize lessons, activities, and assessments to fit the needs of each class and also allows teachers to pull in outside resources, such as YouTube videos. Quaver also contains multiple activities that allow for complete student creativity. Students create their own music, sound tracks, rhythm exercises – the possibilities are endless. Quaver is regularly updated with new material and our 8-year adoption is allowing for some great (and fun) use of technology with our elementary music students.
Finance and Operations
Mrs. Kallen Vaden, Executive Director of Finance, presented the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) report. The District received a perfect score. Mr. Wright opened a public hearing to discuss the rating of Temple ISD under the State’s financial accountability system.
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The hearing opened at 7:33 p.m. There were no speakers and the hearing was closed at 7:33 p.m. Board Committee Reports Facilities Committee Update
Policy Committee Update
Mr. Steve Wright, Chairman of the Facilities Committee, provided an update on the last committee meeting held on September 24, 2015 – 7:30 a.m. Items of discussion included the following: 2011 Bond Final Payment Update, Remaining 2011 Bond Funds, 2015 Bond Priorities and Master Schedule Discussion, Construction Delivery Method Discussion, and Set Board Retreat. The next meeting will be held October 29, 2015 7:30 a.m. Ms. Virginia Suarez, Chairman of the Policy Committee, stated the last meeting held was September 23, 2015 – 8:00 a.m. and provided an update of the meeting. Items of discussion included the following: Review and Discuss Board Policy DEA (LOCAL) – Compensation and Benefits – Compensation Plan, Review and Discuss Board Policy EIC (LOCAL) – Academic Achievement – Class Ranking; Review and Discuss Board Policy FMG (LOCAL) – Student Activities – Travel. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 – 4:00 p.m. Ms. Suarez made a motion to approve Temple ISD Board Policy DEA (LOCAL) – Compensation and Benefits – Compensation Plan. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Gowan and approved by a 5-0 vote. Temple ISD policy DEA (LOCAL) places more emphasis on the District’s compensation plan and focuses on the Board’s and the Administration’s roles regarding compensation. Recommended changes clarify that the Board reviews and approves the annual compensation plan and outlines the Superintendent’s role in implementing and establishing procedures to administer the plan. At the September 14, 2015 Board of Trustee regular meeting, it was agreed on by the Board to allow the TISD Administration to make minor changes to policy DEA (LOCAL) without changing the intent of the policy in regards to the new text added to the policy. Local changes were made to the “PAY INCREASES” section of the policy and sent to the Board in a Friday Update as promised. The change allows the Superintendent to increase pay for a noncontract employee if the employee’s job assignment changes after the budget approval process or if there is noted pay inequity. In doing so the policy states that the Superintendent shall report any such pay increases to the Board at the next regular meeting. A motion was made by Mr. Posey and seconded by Mrs. Gowan to approve Temple ISD Board Policy EIC (LOCAL) – Academic
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Achievement-Class Ranking. The motion was approved by a 5-0 vote. Temple ISD Board Policy EIC (LOCAL) was reviewed by the Temple ISD Curriculum & Instruction Department. At “CLASS RANK,” revisions to the policy include adding “Mathematical Models with Applications” as one of the designated core Mathematics classes from the list. The reason for the addition is that the state decided to allow this course to be taught again this year. Moving to the “CALCULATION” section of the policy, the following additions and deletions were added to the final paragraph in this section as seen below: “Each semester grade in a Pre-AP mathematics, AP mathematics, Pre-IB mathematics, or IB mathematics course in grades 7–8 shall be weighted with the addition of ten points. Each semester grade in a All Pre-AP, AP, Pre-IB, or IB courses in grades 9–12 counted for high school credit shall be weighted with the addition of ten points. All semester grades in core academic dual credit courses shall be weighted with the addition of seven points for students entering grade 9 in the 2013–14 school year. These courses shall be coded on the student’s transcript.” The reason for the change is that by notating the seventh and eighth grade Pre AP courses may cause some confusion for Middle School parents. TISD currently has Pre AP 6th and 7th grade math that is not considered weighted and the C&I Department revised the text to allow a clearer explanation for parents. It is important to note that the calculations will go into effect immediately for students who graduate in the spring of 2017 and will be juniors in the 20152016 school year. Ms. Suarez made a motion to approve Temple ISD Board Policy FMG (LOCAL) – Student Activities – Travel. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Jennifer Davis and approved by a 5-0 vote. In reading policy FMG (LOCAL) for an upcoming out-of-state travel request, an error was noticed in the policy as the policy read, “Out-of-state trips may be made during non-school hours unless an invitation has been extended to compete in a nationally recognized contest.” The sentence as written would not make sense without the word “not” added. Therefore the word “not” was added and the sentence in the policy. In addition to this change a local change was made by the Policy Committee recognizing that all out-of-state trips shall receive prior approval by the Board of Trustees regardless of whether is it a national contest or any other requested out-of-state trip. For the purpose of clarification the policy will now read, “Out-of-state trips may not be made during non-school hours without prior Board approval.unless an invitation has been extended to compete in a nationally recognized contest.” The local changes will reflect the true intent of the policy in regards to out-of-state trips. October 12, 2015 – 6:00 p.m. Board Minutes – Page 7
Consent Agenda
A motion was made by Mr. Posey for approval of the consent agenda items VII, Item A-1 through C, 1. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Jennifer Davis and unanimously approved. (50) Consent Agenda items included a 2009 Freightliner 26’ Box Truck, Budget Amendment #3 and September 14, 2015 board meeting minutes.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 7:46 p.m.
Steve Wright, President
Jennifer Davis, Secretary
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